


a ring made of silver.

by michellejjones



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/M, Fremione - Freeform, Swearing, alternate endings, one-sentence fic challenge, writing this was such a challenge and so weird ah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 15:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13527054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michellejjones/pseuds/michellejjones
Summary: It starts out simply enough: a breath of a laugh here, a memory of a whisper there; trinkets left behind to find, conversations forgotten, a ring made of light silver that he takes off when they're muttering and forgets to take back.





	a ring made of silver.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [imaginary friends (tales of tea, holiday tidings, and gifts from grimmauld place)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13058190) by [therentyoupay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/therentyoupay/pseuds/therentyoupay). 



> Okay, so the format for this work was inspired by a work written by therentyoupay -check them out! They're on AO3 and their works are phenomenal. The style interested me so much, so I took a stab at it. This work also has an alternate ending, because I couldn't decide which ending I liked best (although I think most of you will prefer the second ending lol). Let me know what you think! And definitely check out therentyoupay's works -as said before, they're great. Also, this is unbeta'd, so I'm sorry in advance for any weirdness or spelling errors!

**#01 – Ring.**

It starts out simply enough, a breath of a laugh here, a memory of a whisper there; trinkets left behind to find, conversations forgotten, a ring made of light silver that he takes off when they're muttering and forgets to take back: she goes to give it back the next morning, before even the owls have fallen asleep, but he engages her in a debate on how long it took Dumbledore to grow out his beard, instead, and next thing she knows she's in Arithmancy and the ring is on her thumb, forgotten.

**#02 – Hero.**

She goes to give it back that evening, and he kisses both her fingertips exaggeratedly, claiming her his hero; it would be funny if it weren't for the fact that they're the only two left in the room and his lips against her skin make her a little dizzy-

**#03 – Memory.**

“ _No,”_ he insists, _“keep it, so you can remember me-”_

_"-Fred, that's silly, I'd remember you even without this ring-”_

He cuts her off with a look, and then he says, _“come now, Granger; think of it as your gift to me, in honor of my seventh year.”_

**#04 – Box.**

So she takes that ring, and she puts it on a chain around her neck, hidden underneath layers of robes, and at night, when she takes it off for fear of it getting tangled in her hair whilst she sleeps, she places it in a pretty hatbox full of other things she knows she won't forget, but keeps safe anyways.

**#05 – Run.**

Ginny says that they're halfway in love already, if only they'd stop their damn games; George says that running is half the fun, but don't they ever get tired?

**#06 – Hurricane.**

Their fights are loud against the dying embers of the common room fire, with only George as a witness; and even he casts silencing charms around the room before slipping upstairs, warning Harry and Ron -who are halfway down already to check on their respective siblings- to go back to sleep and stay out of the storm, because unlike hurricanes, the eye isn't the safest part.

**#07 – Wings.**

Their fights always start out innocently enough; they disagree on a subject and then it escalates, subject forgotten in favor of crueler topics like sneaking in shadows and _why can't I hold your hand_ and _we're just friends_ and _that's bullshit and you know it_ -it's all bitterness warped into words; if they were angels, they wouldn't say half these things the way they are being said, but they are not angels, they do not have wings, and so they yell, teenagers with war on their backs, wingless and stuck on the ground.

**#08 – Cold.**

Usually, _he_ finds _her_ crying a few days after their fights, and he holds her until they've both forgiven each other; but this time, she strides around the corner of a freezing hallway shortcut he'd shown her to find him leaned against the wall, weeping openly as he stares at a painting of a girl who's nose is stuck in a book; he sees her approaching, and he lets her hold him, and Hermione thinks the girl in the painting doesn't look much like her, save for the fact that she seems tired.

**#09 – Red.**

His cheeks are blotched red when he finds her in the library, his wind whipped hair flying as he pulls her out of her chair and spins her around, ignoring the shouts from the librarian; Hermione's own cheeks turn a hearty crimson as he spits out, _“I am so fucking in love with you, you brilliant witch,”_ he laughs, loudly -she laughs, too, and decides to screw the fact that there's a looming war on the horizon, screw propriety and being careful; she kisses him soundly, murmuring back that whatever's made him so glad, she's happy: _“-because I love you, too.”_

**#10 – Drink.**

He's the last person she sees when she gets to Grimmauld Place; everyone had greeted her before telling her that Fred was in the library, and so she climbs the stairs with a bottle of firewhisky in her hand and her heart in the other-

**#11 – Midnight.**

-it's about twelve a.m. when he finally breaks, his facade cracking open like sand between his fingertips as he mumbles, _“I didn't think I cared if my dad was proud of me or not until I thought he was gone;”_ Fred tilts his face up, looking for all the world like he is seven and not seventeen, and he asks, as if he's wondered this for a long time but never dared to question: _“do you think if we'd been prefects, he and mum would have loved us more?”_

**#12 – Temptation.**

(She's tempted to say _no, never, they love you no matter what -_ but the trouble is, Hermione has _met_ Mrs Weasley, and whilst she knows full well Arthur couldn't care less if his sons were prefects or not, Mrs Weasley, er, does -and while Hermione doesn't think Mrs Weasley loves the twins any _less_ because of their grades, she _does_ think that she thinks less of them than she does of, say, Bill -and, well, she's basically answered Fred's question; Hermione finds she doesn't particularly like said answer.)

**#13 – View.**

From her point of view, Hermione says to Fred, _“it doesn't matter; what matters is what you choose to do with the path you've paved for yourself,”_

_“I want them to be proud of me, I want-”_

_"-You can't please everyone, Fred: believe me, I've tried.”_

**#14 – Music.**

She shows him who Elvis Presley is, and on Christmas Eve, he makes her play a record for the family, and they all dance to a song about fools -Sirius sweeps Mrs Weasley out of the kitchen, dancing before handing her off to George and partaking in tomfoolery with Harry as they dance together, half the men they could have become and more than what they shouldn't have been; under her breath, Hermione sings to Fred, who kisses her forehead and plays with the ring hanging around her neck.

**#15 – Silk.**

The night before they go back to Hogwarts, Ginny shares a bed with George and Hermione shares a bed with Fred, the sheets silk as they tend to be in wealthy houses, making all four of them writhe uncomfortably as Hermione tells them a story of how Helga Hufflepuff used to live in the woods with the nymphs -but none voice said discomfort, because, really, in a world waiting for war, it isn't the worst thing they'll ever endure.

**#16 – Cover.**

Harry tells her, one evening, as she's covering his hands with the ointment to heal his word-shaped scars, _“you're lucky, you know, to have someone love you so much they'd live for you,”_ and he nods towards Fred; if Hermione hadn't been so shocked at the sudden sentence, she'd have told Harry he had a whole army of people that felt that way about him -but then she remembers that he used the word _live,_ not _die,_ and Hermione thinks it's quite a different thing to have someone live for you, than to have someone die for you.

**#17 – Promise.**

It's dropped quickly, suddenly, honestly; Fred produces his Patronus, she asks what his happy thought is, and he responds, quite clearly, _“it's something that hasn't happened yet; but I promise I'll tell you someday; you were in it.”_

**#18 – Dream.**

Hermione wonders what type of future Fred is imagining that could be so powerful as to produce his Patronus -she finds herself dreaming she could live to see that Fred Weasley future.

**#19 – Candle.**

Ron pretends to gag when they hold hands in the halls, but there's a light in his eyes that he can't quite snuff out; he is happy for them, and he says so, to Fred, when he thinks Hermione isn't listening: _“nobody can hold a candle to our Hermione; I'm glad you two make each other happy.”_

**#20 – Talent.**

“ _You're both so talented,”_ Hermione says, openly and honestly, to the twins, as she puts away her books for the night; the twins stop and stare, confused at the sudden compliment: _“you're not told enough -probably because everyone's afraid of your egos- but you're both incredibly smart and talented,”_ She straightens, and the twins slowly grin:

_"did you hear that-”_

_“-Hermione Jean Granger-”_

_“-brightest witch of her age-”_

_“-called lowly old_ us-”

_“-talented-"_

_"-I think we're gonna faint-”_

Hermione rolls her eyes, but she blushes at the praise: _“oh, shush, both of you.”_

**#21 – Silence.**

They spend the night in silence, sitting in his bed, looking out the window, knowing full well what Umbridge would do if they were somehow caught sharing a bed -who cares that they're both fully dressed- but decidedly not caring; the quiet is too heavy for that, and Hermione is too tired to overthink.

**#22 – Journey.**

The walk from his dorm to her dorm is a quick one; she makes the journey with no problem, and only Parvati is up when she arrives -they make eye contact with each other, before Parvati tilts her head and says, quietly, _“go shower; I'm no snitch.”_

**#23 – Fire.**

Flame doesn't scare her as much as it used to, not now that she can step into green fire and hold Phoenixes; not now that she runs her hair through one of the most fiery Weasleys of all; and certainly not now, as she kisses said Weasley, runs her fingers through his vivid flamelike hair, an actual fire crackling next to them, old and ancient and forever.

**#24 – Strength.**

Sometimes, in the deep night when it's just her, she will break down and think about the days that have passed, and cry for the days that are to come; she cries for the days where she won't be strong enough, and in the morning, she wipes her tears and gathers her courage and plows on, strong in her steadfast weakness.

**#25 – Masks.**

Draco will catch her, when no one is looking, he will whisper nasty words to her, and then smile sweetly when he walks away; usually, she keeps her tongue, but one day, after he insults her and her kin one too many times, she says, when he's about ten feet away, _“careful, Malfoy; one day, that mask that daddy made you will crack -and then how will you hide?”_

**#26 – Ice.**

He spins around, wand in his hand, the mask cruel, but a voice cuts through the ice like the fire that the owner brings- _“the lady's right, sir; and you really don't want to fight her -she's the brightest witch of her age, after all.”_

**#27 – Fall.**

Fred walks her back to the common room, Draco a shadow long gone, and as they walk back, Hermione falls more in love with him; a feat she didn't think had been possible.

**#28 – Forgotten.**

Crevices in hallways, nooks and crannies, unused classrooms -forgotten things, those are the best of meetings, in lost places where no one thinks to look because according to most people, it doesn't exist.

**#29 – Dance.**

Sometimes, they study; sometimes, they debate; and sometimes, when the moon is full and Remus doesn't howl, they dance, giggling at each other and their memories.

**#30 – Body.**

She gives him a book about puberty for his birthday, and when he asks _“care to explain,”_ all she does is raise a finger to her lips before going back to her conversation with George; later on, she gets an owl from him, a short blurb that reads, _an enchanted book about ever-evolving potions -blimey, I love you._

**#31 – Sacred.**

Their bare shoulders glow in the moonlight as he kisses every one of her fingers, and they are in love. Sacred, untouchable, beautiful, reckless love.

**#32 – Farewells.**

She knew -has known for ages- that they would leave early; he had told her multiple times, but for some reason, it doesn't make the farewells any easier.

**#33 – World.**

“ _Well, you've just gotta face reality, you know,”_ Fred and George had told her, at one in the morning with grins on their faces, _“tilt your chin up and say, Lookout, World, we're the Weasley twins, and we're a force to be reckoned with-”_

_“-so good luck,”_ Hermione had finished; they laughed, and she imagined a better world where the twins made millions laugh every day.

**#34 – Formal.**

Their exit is grandiose, spectacular, beautiful, brave, Weasley twin-esque in every way; except, it's also not, because when Fred meets her eye, she can see he wants to tell her something; but there are formalities in place, safety precautions because of a certain toad, so he doesn't, and Hermione pretends she isn't as sad as she dares to be inside.

**#35 – Fever.**

Her skin is prickled hot as she sits in the hospital room, the only one awake, fingers clasping a light silver ring -feverish and completely alone.

**#36 – Laugh.**

It takes all his energy to get Hermione to laugh again, to get Ron to at least crack a smile, to get Ginny to snort, to get Neville to curve his lips upwards, to get Luna to tilt her head in confusion -it takes all his energy, and even with George's help, the Chosen One's lips are still turned down.

**#37 – Lies.**

“ _I'm alright,”_ she promises when she shows up at their doorstep, saying that she'd convinced her parents to go to the Bahamas without her, _“I'm quite alright,”_ she repeat, and she knows they don't believe her, but they're polite enough to pretend.

**#38 – Forever.**

“ _Unicorns mate for life,”_ Fred informs her, _“when their mate dies, that's it, they won't find another-”_ he looks at her fiercely _“-if I were an animal, I'd be a unicorn, because I'm with you til the end of the line,”_ Hermione runs her fingers along his jaw, her belly bubbling with butterflies as she says, confidently and with her all:

_“We are forever, Mr Weasley.”_

**#39 – Overwhelmed.**

It's hard -so, so hard- without him to make her laugh when she's had a long day of studying; it's harder still, now that Ron is busy with his own lover; it's hardest, when Harry glares at her for something she didn't do.

**#40 – Whisper.**

Months later, Harry whispers to her thank-you, when Ginny's holding hands with him, talking to Ron about Quidditch: _“thank you for putting up with me,”_

she whispers back, with all honesty, _“always.”_

**#41 – Wait.**

She's alone, sitting in front of Dumbledore's grave, begging for a sign, for words better than Harry's mediocre _wait._

**#42 – Talk.**

Hermione sits down with her parents on the pretense of a talk, and when she gets up they don't know her anymore; the trio plots at the Burrow, conversations muttered under the cover of dirty dishes; she and Fred go on long walks, talking of what the hunt will bring and what the war will do -and if they kiss, too, well, that's just between them.

**#43 – Search.**

They ache all over, tired from their search, looking at the world through slanted vision.

**#44 – Hope.**

His voice over the radio, promising them a new day, poking fun at Moldywart, telling her he loves her, telling Harry they believe in him, telling Ron they miss him -these are the things that give her hope.

**#45 – Eclipse.**

Her hope is dashed when Bellatrix smiles at her, an eclipse over Hermione's sun, and in that moment, she thinks that this is how she dies.

**#46 – Gravity.**

Bill carries her in his strong arms, Fleur tending to her, and in the darkness, a voice whispers in her ear, almost as if it isn't really there: _“hang on, love, hang on-”_ it grounds her, bringing her down from the terrible state of mind she had lingered in; when she opens here eyes, he isn't there, but his ring is on her thumb -at least they did not take that from her.

**#47 – Highway.**

The road to victory is clearer, now; rush hour is dying down -Hermione can see the way.

**#48 – Unknown.**

Much like Neville, Hogwarts is so different it's unknown to her; but still, this is her home, the rock of the wizarding world, and so she fights, fights for the world she lost, for the world she once knew, for the world she wants to have -that one day, it may not be unknown to her, but a home to her.

**#49 – Lock.**

Hermione locks eyes with him from across the room -he strides to her and kisses her fiercely, lets her claim him once again: _“I missed you,”_ she says;

he says, _“I love you, too.”_

**#50 – Breathe.**

Before he'd left to his post, he had promised Hermione they would make it out alive -but now, as Hermione watches his body being pulled from the wreckage, she finds that she's forgotten how to breathe, the ring on her thumb heavy: because it started out simply enough, and it ends simpler still.

 

_Alternate Ending:_

 

**#50 – Breathe.**

He tells her they'll make it out alive -she hadn't believed him then, but now, as Voldemort's body lies dead -all this, finally _over-_ she finds herself, for the first time ever, to be breathing easy: she's still wearing that ring made of silver, and Fred kisses her, and it finally tastes free.

 


End file.
